Music in African American Community Life

Music in African American Community Life
The origin of African American music traces back to the period of slavery in the United States. As enslaved people worked in the fields, they could sing songs to pass the time. These songs were a way of sharing their life stories. The invented songs, rhythms, and dances helped African Americans from various ethnicities and nationalities to conduct their secular and religious rituals, social gatherings, and festivals in an exciting way as they aimed to cope with the New World realities (Gioia, 2011). During slavery, enslaved blacks became the preferred musicians for white celebrations because they were acknowledged as the best artists (Méndez & Törngren, 2019). Since then, the involvement of African Americans in music-making has influenced every genre of American Music. Jazz, a musical genre invented during African American slavery, explored the pain and troubles black Americans went through in the past. This essay discusses the central role of jazz music in African American community life. It also outlines the musical features that define the performance style of jazz and explains the historical circumstances of African American life during the period of this genre.
Central Role of Jazz Music in African American Community Life
Jazz is a distinctively American musical style invented by black Americans influenced by Europeans (Gioia, 2011). Its roots include work songs, spirituals, and blues (Méndez & Törngren, 2019). It also borrowed from nineteenth-century band music and the ragtime piano playing style (Farley, 2011). Jazz's distinctive elements include rhythm patterns, harmonic patterns, and improvisation (Gioia, 2011). Jazz music is usually defined by its use of blues and speech intonations. As an art, jazz is regarded as one of America's classical music pioneers.
Born in New Orleans, Jazz was a way for African Americans to air their grievances and express themselves musically. It often described the African Americans' plights and struggles. In other words, this musical genre opened the door for African American voices to be heard. A notable artist is Langston Hughes: One of the earliest inventors of jazz poetry and a renowned leader of the Harlem renaissance (Gioia, 2011). Because jazz was a significant musical genre of black culture in the United States, Hughes and other like-minded artists adapted it to create African-American voices that the audience could easily distinguish from the work of white poets (Méndez & Törngren, 2019). Most of Hughes' poems resembled the famous jazz and blues songs. He provoked racial discrimination and stereotype, protested social injustices, and expanded how black people perceived themselves.
The primary role of jazz in the African American community life is to tell the stories of the black people, self-define their identities, and express their attitudes, while demanding change. In other words, it gives African Americans the platform to communicate their worldviews and demand social justice, following their past experiences in America. Expressing these world views creates a sense of originality, identity, and social cohesion among African Americans. According to Méndez & Törngren (2019)...